The View From 1776

Lebanese Civilian Casualties

Liberals in Europe and the United States, which of course includes most of the news media, cry crocodile tears over civilian casualties in Lebanon. 

We must pray for and sympathize with innocent women and children caught in the crossfire.  But we must also remember three points:

First, Hezbollah, a part of the Lebanese government, started the fight by crossing a UN-mandated international border between Israel and Lebanon and attacking an Israeli army unit.

Second, by deliberate design, attacking terrorists like Hezbollah and Hamas without killing and wounding innocent civilians is impossible, because terrorists intermingle their weapons and forces with civilian populations.

Third, as reader Errol Phillips notes, a significant portion of “civilian” casualties reported by the press are actually Hezbollah fighters, who are not uniformed army troops, but technically civilians.

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1. "First, Hezbollah, a part of the Lebanese government, started the fight by crossing a UN-mandated international border between Israel and Lebanon and attacking an Israeli army unit.”

   Just a correction........

   “Israel started its attack on Lebanon two weeks after it sent its forces into the Gaza Strip when a group led by the Islamic Hamas movement kidnapped a soldier in a cross-border raid on June 25.”

   http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=anKpncKS9XlA&refer=home

   I think the dividing line between Hezbollah and Hamas is rather ill defined, and potentially of some significance.

   Second, Hezbollah is not a part of the Lebanese government.  It is a rogue malitia that the Lebanese government has been unable to controll.

   Posted by  on  07/24  at  02:20 PM

2. Ok...let’s look at this.  Israel has two soldiers kidnapped by someone (pick one…Hamas or Hezbollah…I’ve heard conflicting reports of both).  It then commences to engage in a massive bombing campaign on civilian centers that Hezbollah had infiltrated.  Hezbollah starts lobbing missiles into the outskirts of Israel.  Israel escalates its campaign, essentially leveling massive areas of Beiruit and Southern Lebanon, taking out Beiruit’s airport, trapping everyone, and creating an international humanitarian crisis.  To date over 750,000 Lebanese people have been forced out of their homes, and at least 300 Lebanese civilians have been killed (though the red cross estimates that it is more).  At least 42 Israeli’s have been killed, 17 of which were civilians (Reuters).

   In the Kaleej Times Online:  Jul 24 (AFP)

   “[Israeli] Army chief of staff Dan Halutz has given the order to the air force to destroy 10 multi-story buildings in the Dahaya district (of Beirut) in response to every rocket fired on Haifa,” a senior air force officer told the station.

   UN humanitarian coordinator Jan Egeland on Sunday accused Israel of violating humanitarian law as he toured bombed-out areas of south Beirut.

   “This is destruction of block after block of mainly residential areas. I would say it seems to be an excessive use of force in an area with so many citizens,” he said.”

   Israel is doing much more than cleaning out the terrorists.  It’s cleaning out Southern Lebanon. 

   Perhaps that’s just the price someone else has to pay for Israel’s security.  Perhaps there would be far more dead if these sacrifices weren’t made.
   Perhaps.

   Whether or not Israel is going for the Litani River remains to be seen.  Whether or not the US is salivating over the opportunity to draw Syria and Iran into war also remains to be seen…

   I hope I’m wrong.

   Posted by  on  07/26  at  08:11 PM

3. The rationale now circulating through the Israeli Military is that, after being told to leave, those who stayed in Southern Lebanon must be supporting Hezbollah.  Makes sense doesn’t it?

   Even if all of the roads, bridges, and gas stations leading out of the area are bombed out, and even though white-flag waving civilians are being rocketed as they flee, those people who decide to stay must be terrorists!

   If Israel must kill everyone south of the Litany River in order to crush Hezbollah, then in the name of self-defense it must do so!

   Posted by  on  07/30  at  01:54 PM